Macros

[kcuster83 1,504]

I am in phase 3 (soft foods) I don't remember all the macro allowances but fat is 13g max!
DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD AND PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE THAT IS????
Unless you live off of fish it is nearly impossible! Which I am not a big fan of but I do get it in sometimes, tuna and mahi is pretty much it though.
Yesterday I ate:
Fairlife Protein shake
2oz Turkey breast/light cheese on a tiny tortilla roll up
4oz Ground turkey breast taco/ light cheese on a tiny tortilla roll up (This was my largest meal so far, I actually ate it in 2 sessions. lol)
I had 23g fat yesterday!
I know most of it comes from the cheese (even light cheese) but shesh! Even if I had passed on ALL of the cheese (which was only 1.5 servings total) I still would have had 18g fat.
Stage 4 and "normal life" it goes up to I think 20g so it will be a little easier.
Any pointers? I am going to reach out to my nutritionist also because I don't see him for another 3 weeks.

[catwoman7 11,212]

luckily, the only things we ever had to count were Protein grams and fluids...

[Sleeve_Me_Alone 656]

Every program is different, but often times they only offer a blanket recommendation with no personalization for the patient. I would definitely suggest speaking with your nutritionist/registered dietitian. If they aren't able to help give you specific, personalized guidance, it may be worth investing in a private dietitian. There are plenty that are specially trained to work with bariatric patients. I follow a handful on IG and they have been extremely helpful!

[kcuster83 1,504]

26 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

luckily, the only things we ever had to count were Protein grams and fluids...

They want us to mainly focus on Protein, but give us the chart for a basis. I suppose you can eat a VERY high fat diet while trying to hit your protein goals. I guess it is to just make us aware and to be paying attention to what we eat.

[kcuster83 1,504]

6 minutes ago, Sleeve_Me_Alone said:

Every program is different, but often times they only offer a blanket recommendation with no personalization for the patient. I would definitely suggest speaking with your nutritionist/registered dietitian. If they aren't able to help give you specific, personalized guidance, it may be worth investing in a private dietitian. There are plenty that are specially trained to work with bariatric patients. I follow a handful on IG and they have been extremely helpful!

Yes, I agree. My team is extremely helpful. I emailed this morning and waiting to hear back.

They really stress the Protein so I am thinking the chart is to just keep us in check and paying attention to what we eat in general.

[Tony B - NJ 642]

I don't usually count fat but I do watch Protein, carbs and calories. I just looked at my history in My Fitness Pal for the past couple months and it looks like I am averaging around 25 g of fat per day. Still less than 1/2 the recommended daily allowance for fat. If you watch your calories and carbs, I think fat just has to come in pretty low or those numbers could be off.

I try to keep my protein to lean meats like chicken and fish with little to no red meat so I usually do not see a lot of fat.

[kcuster83 1,504]

58 minutes ago, Tony B - NJ said:

I don't usually count fat but I do watch Protein, carbs and calories. I just looked at my history in My Fitness Pal for the past couple months and it looks like I am averaging around 25 g of fat per day. Still less than 1/2 the recommended daily allowance for fat. If you watch your calories and carbs, I think fat just has to come in pretty low or those numbers could be off.

I try to keep my Protein to lean meats like chicken and fish with little to no red meat so I usually do not see a lot of fat.

Agreed, yesterday was the most fat I have had. I usually eat chicken and turkey. Rarely red meats.

PS: I learned the other day that you can set your own macros/calories to meet your goals in fitness pal.

I went in and changed mine to meet the chart I was given. It is easier to keep track. And, now it gives me atta boys for reaching my Proteins. lol (Default was like 100g of protein so I never hit it) I have it set on 80 now.

I find it helpful, so when you mentioned using fitness pal I thought I would share.

[lizonaplane 1,612]

We were told to eat low fat cheese and fat free mayo. I was not going to have a joyless life, not to mention the fact that I travel most days and eat out most meals, so that would have been impossible. Fat also helps keep you full, and I've struggled with hunger since day one.

I just looked at MyFitnessPal and it looks like I get between 40-50g of fat a day with 900-1500 calories and 70-90g Protein.

I eat a lot of cheese and since I eat out, I often have foods that I know are made with oil. I worry more about limiting carbs and increasing protein and Fiber and fluids. It seems to be working for me so far. I do eat a lot of fish and shrimp too, but I'm not giving up my cheese!

[kcuster83 1,504]

1 minute ago, lizonaplane said:

We were told to eat low fat cheese and fat free mayo. I was not going to have a joyless life, not to mention the fact that I travel most days and eat out most meals, so that would have been impossible. Fat also helps keep you full, and I've struggled with hunger since day one.

I just looked at MyFitnessPal and it looks like I get between 40-50g of fat a day with 900-1500 calories and 70-90g Protein.

I eat a lot of cheese and since I eat out, I often have foods that I know are made with oil. I worry more about limiting carbs and increasing Protein and Fiber and fluids. It seems to be working for me so far. I do eat a lot of fish and shrimp too, but I'm not giving up my cheese!

Yes, I do go to the low fat cheese for the most part. They are harder to find than I expected though.

I too LOVE CHEESE. And, I agree with you about a joyless life.

IMO: We need to find balance to a new normal life. Don't pig out, watch what we eat. Eat balanced healthy meals. But live, eat out. Have treats. Celebrate. I have always been able to eat healthy I just always ate WAY too much. That is why I had surgery, to provide restriction and have time to tweak my methods.

[Tony B - NJ 642]

20 minutes ago, lizonaplane said:

We were told to eat low fat cheese and fat free mayo. I was not going to have a joyless life, not to mention the fact that I travel most days and eat out most meals, so that would have been impossible. Fat also helps keep you full, and I've struggled with hunger since day one.

I just looked at MyFitnessPal and it looks like I get between 40-50g of fat a day with 900-1500 calories and 70-90g Protein.

I eat a lot of cheese and since I eat out, I often have foods that I know are made with oil. I worry more about limiting carbs and increasing Protein and Fiber and fluids. It seems to be working for me so far. I do eat a lot of fish and shrimp too, but I'm not giving up my cheese!

I tried but I cannot do fat free mayo....I would rather eat none. I tried this succesfully....I use real mayo and some greek yogurt. So in a can of tuna, I put about 1/2 mayo and 1/2 greek yogurt and it tastes pretty good. Much better than the fat free mayo which to me does not taste like mayo at all.

[kcuster83 1,504]

4 minutes ago, Tony B - NJ said:

I tried but I cannot do fat free mayo....I would rather eat none. I tried this succesfully....I use real mayo and some greek yogurt. So in a can of tuna, I put about 1/2 mayo and 1/2 greek yogurt and it tastes pretty good. Much better than the fat free mayo which to me does not taste like mayo at all.

I agree- Fat free mayo is HORRIBLE. I am ok with light mayo, but regular is the best.

I think fat free dressings are horrible too, some light ones are ok. But very few light dressing I will eat. I just usually go with Balsamic vinaigrette, it's naturally pretty low cal.

[lizonaplane 1,612]

8 minutes ago, kcuster83 said:

I agree- Fat free mayo is HORRIBLE. I am ok with light mayo, but regular is the best.

I think fat free dressings are horrible too, some light ones are ok. But very few light dressing I will eat. I just usually go with Balsamic vinaigrette, it's naturally pretty low cal.

I use light miracle whip in tuna, and I don't use much mayo otherwise.

I would double check the balsamic vinaigrette nutrition facts. Most of it is high calorie and high sugar and fat, at least at restaurants and in bottles. If you're just mixing balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it's just high fat/calorie, but most commercial dressings have a lot of added sugar.

[lizonaplane 1,612]

22 minutes ago, Tony B - NJ said:

I tried but I cannot do fat free mayo....I would rather eat none. I tried this succesfully....I use real mayo and some greek yogurt. So in a can of tuna, I put about 1/2 mayo and 1/2 greek yogurt and it tastes pretty good. Much better than the fat free mayo which to me does not taste like mayo at all.

I use fat free Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. I eat a ton of FF Greek yogurt!

[kcuster83 1,504]

2 minutes ago, lizonaplane said:

I use light miracle whip in tuna, and I don't use much mayo otherwise.

I would double check the balsamic vinaigrette nutrition facts. Most of it is high calorie and high sugar and fat, at least at restaurants and in bottles. If you're just mixing balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it's just high fat/calorie, but most commercial dressings have a lot of added sugar.

The brand I get is good. 60cals a serving. Honestly I don't know the sugar because I never worried about sugars before surgery and haven't had it since.

I will definitely check before I start using it again, like everything else.

Now that you bring it up, what is with people and ketchup? It has 2g per serving and people act like it will kill them to eat it. Pay 5x as much for sugar free? Is that 2 grams really making a difference in the day to day? Or do people eat way more ketchup than I realized?

[lizonaplane 1,612]

Just now, kcuster83 said:

The brand I get is good. 60cals a serving. Honestly I don't know the sugar because I never worried about sugars before surgery and haven't had it since.

I will definitely check before I start using it again, like everything else.

Now that you bring it up, what is with people and ketchup? It has 2g per serving and people act like it will kill them to eat it. Pay 5x as much for sugar free? Is that 2 grams really making a difference in the day to day? Or do people eat way more ketchup than I realized?

60 cals a serving is very low! Most are like 180-210.

I eat real ketchup on real burgers (No bun) and I eat real french fries, too. Not too many and not very often, but I can't live the rest of my life on chicken breast (it's hard to eat anyway!).